A wide variety of suspension devices have been devised for hanging curtain rods. Nails and threaded fasteners in conjunction with various mounting plates form suitable means for some applications, as for example, where a wooden stud or window casing is available. For other types of wallboard applications, including dry wall, such anchors generally have inadequate pullout strengths to support the weight of the drapes, drapery rod and drapery rod brackets. Certain other expanding anchor fasteners have greater pullout values but are complicated to install (i.e., require predrilled holes, fastener insertion and removal), cannot be installed into a stud, are not readily removable from the wallboard, and do not always perform as they were designed to (i.e., occasionally the anchor will fail to collapse, the fastener head will be destroyed as a result of the high driving torque required, or the anchor will crush the wallboard).
It is an object of the present invention to provide an assembly for securing a drapery rod mounting bracket to wallboard which overcomes the above deficiencies of previous systems.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bracket-mounting assembly which can be easily installed using only a hammer.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bracket-mounting assembly which can be used in spite of the presence of an interfering stud.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a bracket-mounting assembly in which the anchor portion can be removed producing only a small, easily reparable slit.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by an assembly comprised of a number of anchors and a mounting plate which is generally rectangular in plan view and which is C-shaped in cross section. The C-shape is formed by the two edges, one of which is bent over upon itself (i.e., is configured in the form of a "U") and the other of which is bent generally perpendicularly to the plate body. This other edge has a plurality of spring fingers thereon at least some of which engage in openings in a curtain rod bracket to removably retain it in position with respect to the mounting plate.
In one embodiment of the invention, the anchors comprise arcuate projections which are integral with the mounting plate and curved out of the plane thereof. There are two sets of projections each set having a different uniform radius of curvature and projecting from one end of the plate.
In the second or preferred embodiment, the anchors are formed as separate arcuate hooks which penetrate the wallboard through slots in the mounting plate. The hooks have a set of pivot fingers projecting laterally outwardly, said pivot fingers engaging in apertures in the mounting plate to form the assembly. The center of curvature of the arcuate hooks lies along the axis of the pivot fingers so the hooks may be easily pivoted into the wallboard. The mounting plate has two sets of apertures and two sets of hook-receiving slots so the mounting plate may be turned either way for right and left-handed applications.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.